The Kyushu District Transport Bureau reports that overseas cruise ships are scheduled to call on Kyushu ports 179 times in 2012. This is three times more than last year’s total, when there were many cancellations in the wake of the Tohoku disaster, and the highest number since statistics began being kept in 2008. The primary factor is the new entry of South Korean cruise ships.
Chinese low-cost carrier Spring Airlines has begun a regularly scheduled charter service between Saga City and Shanghai. There will be two roundtrip flights a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is the first regularly scheduled international flight into Saga Airport since it opened in 1998.
The major airline companies announced their planned flights for the first half of FY 2012 (March 25 – October 27). ANA will resume a daily Fukuoka – Sendai round-trip flight for the Golden Week period. It will also increase flights from Fukuoka and Oita to Osaka’s Itami Airport, and from Fukuoka to Niigata, while reducing them from Fukuoka to the Kansai International, Chubu, and Okinawa airports. Meanwhile, JAL will resume its daily round-trip flight from Fukuoka to Iwate, and increase flights between Haneda and Kitakyushu and Kumamoto.
Seoul-based Harmony Cruises have begun sales of cruise packages to Kyushu that will call at Fukuoka City, Beppu, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima from home ports in Busan and Incheon. The sales are for 19 cruises that will sail between February and April. They plan slightly less than 100 cruises per year. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport says they are the first South Korean company to operate cruises to Japan.
Osaka-based low-cost carrier Peach Aviation is now selling tickets for its flights from Osaka to Fukuoka City and Sapporo that will begin March 1 next year. The company reports that some flights were sold out within hours after the sales began on-line. The flights now on sale are for the period from March 1-24, and the one-way price between Osaka and Fukuoka is 3,780 yen.
Low-cost carrier Jeju Air of South Korea announced plans to inaugurate regularly scheduled daily flights between Fukuoka City and Seoul this year, beginning sometime after March. The number of flights and their times is undecided, pending authorization by South Korean authorities. Jeju Air has been operating three flights a week between Kitakyushu and Seoul since March 2009.
JR Kyushu and JR West are working on a program to offer discount rail passes to foreigners for travel in the Kyushu, Chugoku, and Kinki regions. Shinkansen travel would also be included in the service. It is the first time the two rail companies are working together on a special program for foreigners, and the tickets could go on sale as early as next spring.
Kitakyushu-based airline Starflyer was listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company’s stated objectives for the listing are utilize it to procure more aircraft, expand the scale of their operations, and thereby benefit from the economies of scale. With two new low-cost carriers slated to begin operation in Japan next year, Starflyer hopes to survive the growing competition through expanded routes and a greater number of flights.
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan have settled on a policy of using the same standards for the 66-kilometer Takeo Onsen-Nagasaki leg of the western branch of the Kyushu Shinkansen as for the main branch from Fukuoka to Kagoshima. The portion undergoing construction now from Takeo to Isahaya uses different standards. That section was scheduled to be completed in 2018, but the upgrading of the standards will push the date back.
The Seoul-based low cost carrier T’way began operating flights on the Seoul-Fukuoka route. With Air Busan’s Fukuoka-Busan flight, they become the second Korean low cost carrier to offer flights from Fukuoka to that country. T’way is offering two daily round trips at what they say is 80% of the cost of the major carriers.
China Airlines, the biggest airline in Taiwan, has applied to Taiwanese regulatory agencies for authorization to fly three round trips a week between that country’s Taoyuan Airport and Kagoshima. If approved, the flights would begin next March and would be the airline’s third regularly scheduled route to Kyushu after Fukuoka and Miyazaki. Meanwhile, TransAsia Airlines of Taiwan has applied for authorization for seven weekly round-trip flights to Fukuoka.
Nishi-Nippon Railroad of Fukuoka City and Seibu Kanko Bus of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, announced that starting December 8, they will begin operation of the longest expressway bus route in Japan. The overnight trip on the Lions Express will connect Fukuoka City with Yokohama, the Ikebukuro district in Tokyo, and Saitama City in Saitama. They plan to operate one round trip daily on the 1,162 kilometer route, which will take 15 hours and 10 minutes one way. The companies think there is latent demand for travel by expressway bus.
JR Kyushu has released the figures for the daily ridership on the Kyushu Shinkansen from July to September. The number of people using the train was above initial projections at nine of the 11 stations. JR Kyushu noted there was an increase in ridership totals starting in August from the Kansai and Chugoku regions.
T’way Airlines, a Seoul-based budget airline, plans to begin flying two daily roundtrips between Seoul and Fukuoka City on December 20, it was learned. They will become the first budget airline to offer service on this route. The fares are expected to be 75%-80% those of the major airlines. Two other Korean airline companies, KAL and Asiana, both fly three daily roundtrips between the two cities.
AsiaCove Japan, a Korean capital-affiliated Internet travel agency, will launch a website next January to promote Kyushu as a destination for South Korean golfers. They will sell tour packages that include lodging arrangements and airline tickets. It will also include information on tourist destinations near regional golf courses.
The Kyushu Economic Research Center released the results of its survey of university and vocational school students in Fukuoka Prefecture for the regional tourist facilities they would most like to visit. Finishing in first place was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, cited by 84% of the respondents. It was followed by Marine World – Uminonakamichi and the Yahoo! Dome in Fukuoka City. The center was interested in the results for facilities in Kagoshima Prefecture following the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen, but the results for the most well-known were at the 20% level.
Korean Airlines has announced they will resume on December 31 the two weekly Nagasaki – Seoul roundtrip flights they have currently suspended, and have begun accepting reservations for them. The flights were suspended in February due to low occupancy rates. They had planned to resume them earlier, but the falloff in passengers due to the Tohoku earthquake caused them to postpone that resumption.
The Nishi-Nippon Railway Co. (Nishitetsu) announced the start of sales of discount tickets on the Fukuoka – Nagasaki route on October 1 until the end of March. The tickets will have a 30% discount, but will be sold only to seniors and students of junior high school age or above. The objective is to boost ridership totals during weekdays.
JR Kyushu announced the establishment of new day-trip discounts for Shinkansen tickets between Fukuoka City and the nearby stations of Shin-Tosu, Kurume, Chikugo-Funagoya, and Shin-Omuta to boost passenger totals. The new prices for non-reserved seating will be 20%-30% less than normal prices. They will be in effect only from October 1 to the end of March.
Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu) and Miyazaki Kotsu have decided to extend until next March the night-time bus service between Fukuoka City and Miyazaki City. Plans originally called for the service to be provided for six months starting from this March. A Nishitetsu spokesman said the target was 10 passengers per trip, and the service managed to reach only half that number. The companies believe the poor response was due to insufficient awareness of the service, however, and will continue the route to gauge actual interest.
JR Kyushu and JR West have begun examining the possibility of increasing to 20 or more from 15 the number of daily roundtrips between Osaka and Kagoshima on the Shinkansen. There has been an increase in tourism to southern Kyushu from the Kansai and Chugoku areas since the Kyushu route opened in March. Sources say the two companies have already agreed to increasing the number of runs, and now they’re discussing the number, times, and stations where they will stop.
JR Kyushu released statistics for ridership on the Kyushu Shinkansen in the six months since its full operation began in March. The number of passengers between Hakata and Kumamoto rose 38% from the previous year, when the fastest option was the limited express. While the increase was impressive, it fell short of JR Kyushu’s 40% target.
Nagasaki City and Oita City have agreed to form a tourism alliance based on the theme of Ryoma Sakamoto. They will jointly produce television programs to promote tourism, and use in special events the Kanko-maru sailing ship that calls to mind Sakamoto’s trip from Kobe to Kyushu in 1864. In the first of those events, the ship will sail from Nagasaki to Oita later this month for a ceremony on October 1, during which the mayors of the two cities will sign the agreement cementing the alliance.
Delta Airlines announced it will inaugurate regularly scheduled seasonal flights between Fukuoka City and Honolulu on December 28. Other airlines, including JAL and Northwest, have operated on the same route, but operations have been suspended on that route in October 2005. Delta plans on operating four to seven flights a week from December to April and from July to September.
JR Kyushu will launch an effort to boost the sales in Asia of the JR Kyushu Rail Pass that allows overseas travelers to travel at will throughout the region. The company signed agency agreements with two South Korean travel agencies earlier this year for the sale of the Rail Pass in that country. They are now making preparations to sign similar agreements with travel agencies in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as part of their effort to double 2010 sales by 2012.
JR Kyushu revealed that 248,000 people used the Shinkansen line between the Kagoshima Chuo and Kumamoto stations from August 1-14, a 179% increase from the previous year. The figures for July also rose sharply, with 413,000 people using that route during the month, a 165% increase. JR Kyushu noted that many people from throughout western Japan were traveling to Kagoshima.
JR Kyushu Jet Ferry and the Camellia Line, both of Fukuoka City, will launch sales on September 1 of a new round trip ticket good for two days from Monday to Thursday. The objective is to encourage Japanese to visit Busan and take advantage of the high yen for Korean shopping and dining. Travelers can take the Beetle jetfoil to Busan at 8:30 a.m., check into the Camellia Line ferry at 6:30 p.m., and spend the night while the ferry makes the return trip to Fukuoka City, arriving at the Port of Hakata at 7:30 a.m. the next morning. It will cost 14,300 yen, a 35% discount.
JR Kyushu released the daily average ridership totals for each station for the April – June quarter. While the totals for the Shin-Minamata and Kagoshima Chuo stations matched or exceeded expectations, those for five of the six stations closest to Fukuoka failed to reach initial projections. Also, the speculated low total passenger totals between Fukuoka and Kumamoto was confirmed. As a result, JR Kyushu is studying the possibility of rate cuts for those routes.
Kagoshima Prefecture has become a very popular tourist destination in Kyushu this summer, the Nishinippon Shimbun reports. The opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen has made access easier not only from Fukuoka, but also from the Kansai and Chugoku regions. Some Fukuoka travel agencies report that customers for their Kagoshima tours have tripled from last summer.
Amakusa Airlines of Kumamoto Prefecture will offer discounts of more than 50% on one-way fares between Fukuoka and Amakusa to passengers who purchase tickets more than 28 days in advance. The discount program will begin in October. Passenger totals were down year-on-year 16% in April and 28% in May. The airline attributes that to the Tohoku earthquake, as well as to the end of another discount fare program in March.
The Fukuoka Asia Urban Research Center released the results of its survey of Chinese tourists visiting Fukuoka City on cruise ships, who have been growing in recent years. Though each spends an average of 40,000 yen in the city, they complained about the lack of Chinese-language signage in commercial facilities and the amount of time available for shopping. Only 6.9% of the respondents said they’d like to visit Fukuoka again. This was not the response looked for by Fukuoka City, which promotes itself as the gateway to Asia.
JR Kyushu Jet Ferry announced it will inaugurate regular jetfoil service between Tsushima in Nagasaki Prefecture and Busan, South Korea on October 1. The original route between Fukuoka City and Busan was launched in 1991, and the new route will become the second. The company expects demand primarily from South Korean tourists.
The Kitakyushu Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the first of their bus tours of local industrial sites to publicize the area’s commitment to craftsmanship. About 20 people participated. They plan to conduct 20 tours in all by the end of September. The tour includes visits to robot production sites and the Moji-ko Retro District. Six different packages are available, including overnight stays, and they are sold through JTB Kyushu and Nishitetsu Travel.
Traffic between Busan, South Korea, and Fukuoka City on the Korean Kobee and JR Beetle high speed jetfoils rose to 31,000 people in June, a 67.6% increase on a year-on-year basis. It is the first year-on-year increase in traffic since the Tohoku earthquake in March. The primary factor behind the rise was the 70% fare discounts offered to Korean passengers of the Kobee.
The Nagasaki Tourism Federation announced it had created an iphone application that enables tourism information on Nagasaki City, Sasebo, and other locations to be downloaded in Korean. It became available for free downloads on the 10th in South Korea. Activating the app reveals five icons, including those for JR and bus schedules and an FAQ. Touching the icons brings up more detailed information.
JR Kyushu released figures for the first three months of Kyushu Shinkansen operation showing large increases in the number of rail passengers compared to the totals when only special express trains were available. The figures were compiled from the opening of full service on March 12 to mid-June. Ridership from Hakata to Kumamoto rose by 35%, while that from Kumamoto to Kagoshima rose 62%. JR Kyushu’s target in both cases was a 40% increase. They think the reason the rise in traffic to Kagoshima was higher than expected, and that to Kumamoto was lower than expected, is the much greater time savings for the trip to Kagoshima on the Shinkansen.
The Kitakyushu-based airline Starflyer will begin offering five daily roundtrips between Fukuoka Airport and Haneda in Tokyo on July 1, which will bring to four the number of carriers providing service on the route. That route had 8.11 million travelers last year, the second-highest total in the nation after the Haneda – Chitose route. JAL, ANA, and Skymark already offer Fukuoka – Haneda flights, and Starflyer’s basic ticket prices will be lower than those of JAL and ANA.
To offset the sharp downturn in foreign tourism caused by the Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear accident at Fukushima, the Kyushu Transport Bureau and the Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organization are teaming up to invite media outlets from five Asian countries, including South Korea and China, to Kyushu to promote the safety of tourism in the region. The program started at the end of May and will continue into July to encourage the production of television programs and newspaper articles. Both organizations have budgeted a total of 25 million yen for the project to subsidize travel expenses and program production costs.
The Nishi-Nippon Railway Co. (Nishitetsu) of Fukuoka City and Kyushu Sanko Bus of Kumamoto City added eight new round-trips bus trips between the two cities on June 1 to the runs they already jointly operate. That brings to 108 the number of round-trip runs they operate daily. The new routes are a result of the greater number of passengers using the service since the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen, said by Nishitetsu to be 6%. The new runs are concentrated in the morning and the later evening hours.
JR Kyushu Jet Ferry, which operates the Beetle jetfoils between Fukuoka City and Busan, South Korea, announced they will operate a route to Yeosu from May to August next year to coincide with the Yeosu Expo. It is the first international route the company will operate other than its current route to Busan. Three round-trips will be provided a week, mostly on weekends. About 100 countries and territories are expected to participate in the Expo, which is projected to draw about 10 million visitors.
